Jalen Brunson’s meteoric rise within the sports collectibles and memorabilia space since the New York Knicks won the 2026 NBA Finals has reached another level. A seven-figure level.
His “NBA Finals Debut” jersey, the guard wore during Game 1 against the San Antonio Spurs, sold for $1.024 million through an auction via Sotheby’s on Wednesday night, a new record for a piece of Knicks memorabilia. The sale highlighted Part 1 of the auction house’s NBA Finals game-worn jerseys and series-used memorabilia collection.
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This is the most expensive Brunson item sold publicly. He scored 30 points in Game 1 wearing the jersey as the Knicks beat the Spurs 105-95 in San Antonio on June 3.
For perspective, the most expensive NBA jersey sold at auction was Michael Jordan’s “Last Dance” jersey from his last 1998 NBA Finals game, which sold for $10.1 million in September 2022 at Sotheby’s.
The auction house also has a Kobe Bryant jersey from Game 1 of the 2009 finals currently available in a separate auction ending July 20, with bidding currently at $1.25 million.
Still, there’s no question that Brunson collectors are willing to pay more for his items now than ever.
The 2026 NBA Finals MVP’s most expensive trading card sold on June 19, when his 2018 Panini Prizm Choice Nebula one-of-one card, with a PSA 9 grade, sold for $312,000 via the online card sales database Card Ladder. This card’s top sale previously went for nearly $97,000 at a Goldin auction in November 2024.
In 2019, the same card was listed for sale on an online basketball card forum for $300.
Brunson’s top five publicly known card sales all occurred from June 18 to 20, shortly after the Knicks’ 4-1 series victory over the Spurs.
Other game-worn jerseys in this year’s NBA Finals from Sotheby’s collection for the Knicks’ OG Anunoby and Karl-Anthony Towns fetched the second-highest prices, each selling for $256,000. A Josh Hart jersey went for $89,600.
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For the Spurs, Victor Wembanyama’s Game 1 jersey fetched the highest price, going for $217,600. If the series results had flipped to the Spurs winning the title, this Wemby jersey probably would have had a chance to snag seven figures. Dylan Harper’s Spurs jersey also reached six figures at $115,200.
Other notable NBA Finals items being sold on Wednesday night:
- NBA Finals court panel “Fin” from Games 3 and 4 at Madison Square Garden: $243,200
- NBA Finals Game 5 “Championship Clinching Game” used net: $179,200
- NBA Finals court panel “als” from Games 3 and 4 at Madison Square Garden: $115,200
This isn’t the first time this year that an NBA game-worn jersey has sold for seven figures through Sotheby’s as the auction house works in collaboration with the league for these items.
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Cooper Flagg’s Dallas Mavericks rookie debut game-worn jersey sold privately for $1 million in February. It’s the highest known sale of a Flagg collectible so far.
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